Tanned baby

[redredbrine]

My son is under the age of 1 and is currently sporting a tan. He is mixed race (1/4 black, 3/4 white) and was covered in factor 30 on a day when it was 21 degrees Celsius. I chose factor 30 as the UV index was low and wanted to avoid factor 50 due to the chemicals - would only use if it was going to be very hot.

One of my friends went off on a rant at me. Apparently I'm increasing my son's risk of skin cancer, should've used factor 50 and it's awful for a child to have a tan.

AIBU to think that it's fine that he tanned because he has sun cream on and he just went a tiny bit darker? It wasn't intentional or like I was shoving him out in the sun on purpose for this reason...

My 10 year old has olive skin. She tans so quickly.

I am pretty obsessed with sun protection but every summer she will tan. The only way to stop this is to keep her indoors all day long.

Kids tan, not much you can do about that. My very pale 6 year old always gets freckles on his cheeks in the summer because of sun exposure- he is slathered in factor 50 before school every day and wears a trapper hat, it mkes no difference.
What I will say it to make sure he wears a hat- my youngest hates wearing his but we always say ‘no hat, no park’. He gets that and reluctantly puts it on. If they’re wearing hats and lotion the you’ve done your best!

My children tan very easily. As in 16 degrees in Scotland easily. I was always embarrassed when they were babies too. Hey ho.

Some very OTT responses here. If you'd chucked him outside in the midday sun with little or no sun protection then I could understand the concern. You didn't do this. Some kids, especially those with darker skin tones, tan really quickly even with appropriate sun cream on.

My children are half English and half italian. They both start tanning as soon as the sun hits their skin no matter how high a factor they are wearing. My ds (1 year old) has very tanned legs and arms from just doing a 20 minute journey twice a day on the School run wearing factor 50. One of these journeys each day is at 8:30am. My dd can be outside for as little as 15 minutes in factor 50 and come in with the beginnings of a tan line. Summer is only just starting and she already looks like she's been on holiday abroad for a month. My dh is the same. One day of sunshine and he'll be more tanned than if I'd spent two weeks abroad.

I don't think Caucasian people understand how difficult it is to avoid going darker. My son could be wearing a hat and sunscreen and still go very dark. You can't completely avoid sun unless you want to be deficient in vitamin d, which many people are.

Wrong to rant - but she’s right. Baby’s skin is so very sensitive. You need factor 50 at the bare minimum. I have factor 110/100 sometimes as my children have very sensitive skin.

My eldest 2 DDs have an Italian father. Even with F50 they are tan as fuck. Me and toddler DD are ginger and pale

Different levels of melanin result in different reactions to the sun. the idea that all children can be kept pale by chucking the suncream on is nonsense, or that the parent of a dark skinned child is somehow failing their kid because their melanin is doing what melanin does is silly. Not all kids are pale caucasian kids.

Very OTT responses on here. Factor 30 and out for 40 mins in 21 degree heat. That's totally fine! Well in my opinion it is but no doubt I'll get flamed for that

My grandfather was scottish but back two generations his grandad had brought back a french wife, smugglers they were, brandy, silks, perfumes, now he only had to look at the sun and turn a deep brown. It never hurt him. Sadly none of his children nor grandchildren inherited the exotic look he had. He was a matinee idol in looks.

Black and Indian babies are usually lighter skinned until they are over 2 because parents are really careful about sun damage

What a weird generalisation. I'm half Indian and married to a black man, I have never made that observation. Parents of all ethnicities are very concerned with sun damage these days.

I am mixed race (1/4 Indian) and (for slightly complicated reasons) wear factor 50 kids sun cream. I still tan.

The suncream is doing its job of blocking the UV. A tan doesn’t mean I’ve failed at suncare.

Although if you are worried OP, ask your doctor, not mumsnet. There’s some misinformation on this thread already.

I thought lack of Vit D was a bigger worry these days? My baby is tanned. Never burnt though.

Don't worry too much about it. My dc are mixed race 50/50 black/white and regardless of what strength suncream I put on them, they both tan within minutes of being in the sun.

I don't think Caucasian people understand how difficult it is to avoid going darker.
Yes, we do. It's obvious. It's just some hysterics on Mumsnet.

I am mixed race myself, and I don't have to be under the sun to tan. I tan even in the shade. My kids' father is white, and although they it looks like they have the same skin colour, one tans very easily, the other one doesn't. I use F50 on all of us, btw.

I wonder how many of the posters that criticized you were in fact caucasians, with zero clue on her darker skin reaction to the sun? ( and therefore talking out of their arses, and said arses high up in their horses).

Fucking hell, 7 pages of hysteria.

Come and live with us in the Caribbean OP, doesn't matter how much factor 30/50 you slap on the kids, they still tan.

And I'm mixed race so my kids get color at 8am in the morning. How the fuck do some of you survive, it's like all common sense has disappeared and some of you won't leave the house in the middle of the day lest the wily sun shine its rays on your precious kids.

DD has a similar genetic make up. Factor 50, rash vests in very hot countries. She has never been sun burnt but after spending a day or two in the sun develops a tan and in fact except for the winter months usually has a Mediterranean skin tone because we spend lots of time outside. According to the above responses I should be keeping her inside.
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Isn't it just his colour coming out ??

My friends have mixed race babies and all looked white until they got to 9 months or so when they started to get darker.

Most kids are vitamin d deficient due to our OTT parenting so really don’t worry
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Marinkazurie, none of my DCs have ever sunbathed. A tan is not seen as a desirable thing here or any kind of a status symbol (midwest US). People seem less inclined to alter the skin they were born with than they are in Ireland or the UK though there are still idiots who use tanning beds and fake tan is also a thing.

I slathered them in spf 70 sunscreen as children and lectured constantly on sun damage. I also used zinc based sticks for faces. They have blue white Irish/ Dutch complexions. They took vitamin D supplements.

They played out most summer days and swam a lot in the local pools. But no sunbathing.

The only thing that bothered me a out the OP's posts was that her baby was out in such heat in a babygro. The risk of overheating is worse than the risk of skin damage from the sun.

I would dress the baby in a little short sleeved short legged onesie instead of a babygro and use spf 30 on exposed skin, or a zinc based sunscreen that is a barrier if fear of chemicals in chemical sunscreens is causing (needless) worry

Also make sure he drinks plenty.

We go abroad every year as a family and despite factor 50, staying in the shade they all get a tan.

Then again, we venture out in the day, swim, explore etc like normal human beings.

A lot of white people honestly have no clue about how different skin or hair can be with other ethnicities.

You also have people thinking Mongolian blue spots are bruises from child abuse when they’re a very common skin pattern in darker skinned babies.

Whether or not it’s intended it’s very ignorant to assume a mixed/black/Asian baby has the same needs as a white one and then judge the parents of those children!

Hmm surely babies in hot countries are tanned to an extent? It's surely almost impossible to keep a baby completely out of the sun?

No, its perfectly possible. I live in California and the babies here aren't tanned despite there being lots of sunshine and a drought. You just put suncream on them, keep them in the shade and they wear light clothes. Babies shouldn't get tanned, if they have then you need to reevaluate your parenting choices and make a change going forwards.

I live in California and the babies here aren't tanned despite there being lots of sunshine and a drought.

Oh really? Don’t you know any Hispanic, Asian, or black babies?